AP US History

The day I ripped my AP US History text book into a million shreds was one of the happiest moments of my life. I remember sitting in my room the night before the AP exam, ripping and ripping and ripping while everyone else in my class was studying their asses off. Truth be told, I did not study at all for the exam. What was the point? I had not absorbed any information that whole year, and that wasn't going to change in the last 24 hours before the exam. In fact, taking the exam was more of a technicality, a necessary evil... the way I saw it I was just paying the $80 fee and sitting in a testing room for 3 hours so I could say I got a C+ in AP US History (which was better than getting a C+ in REGULAR US History, which is what would have happened if I did not sit for the exam).

The exam was pretty fun. I'd always wanted to fill in random bubbles on a standardized test, so I did. Also, since the document based question was about the Cold War and we had not even finished with World War Two, I had a ton of fun making up a totally incorrect (but well written!) essay. I even got a 2, which I considered to be a great success (all things considered).

Anyhow, the point is that I was glad to have put US History behind me. Sure, now in my adult life I sort of look like an idiot when the topic comes up, but usually I can get along by keeping my mouth shut.

Unfortunately, my teacher at school asked me to whip up a presentation about Kennedy and his presidency. UGH! What a snore! First off, I know nothing about the era so I had to do massive amounts of research (and research about related events and things leading up to his presidency to put everything in context). Second, I went into the classroom today and much to my chagrin find that all her students know ten times as much US History as I do, Kennedy and his presidency not excluded.

The worst bit is that instead of ending the torture today, she came up to me after class and said that it was interesting and I had done a good job (?!?), wouldn't it be a good idea to do another presentation on Robert Kennedy next week?

I feel like I've timewarped back to the worst part of my life. You may think this is me being melodramatic, but you weren't me during my high school history class. Trust me, it was torture.

I suppose on the plus side, at least I am covering a period of history I did not study in AP US History so it's not a complete repeat of the bad old days. Maybe this time I'll retain something other than total and utter confusion.